


Unwelcome

by ancalime8301



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Fluff, Gen, POV First Person, Phobias, Watson's Woes July Writing Prompts 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:33:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25042465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancalime8301/pseuds/ancalime8301
Summary: A package is received at Baker Street.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: Watson's Woes JWP Collection: 2020





	Unwelcome

**Author's Note:**

> For JWP day 02: _Phobias Redux:: Let’s revisit an old prompt. Either Watson or Holmes has a phobia. Who is it, why do they have it, and how did the other discover it?_

"Holmes, there's a package for you from the client last week," I said as I closed the sitting room door with my foot and shuffled through the remaining mail.

"You may open it," the occupant of the settee said languidly.

He'd been in one of his moods since concluding the lady's case--a matter of business intrigue pertaining to the dyeing of fabrics--and I'd hoped the surprise might spur him into motion. No such luck, it would seem.

I did as directed and found a note and a silk cravat in a deep orange color. I read the note aloud. "'In appreciation of your masterful work in recovering the secret of our specialty color.' Would you like to see it? It's quite striking."

Holmes seemed almost to shudder. "She shouldn't have," he said flatly. "Whatever it is, I don't want it."

I looked between Holmes and the cloth in my hand, trying to comprehend his bizarre behavior. Gifts had never been unwelcome before, so something was objectionable about the sender, the situation, or the item itself. Given he had not yet cast eyes upon the item, something else was amiss.

"Does something still trouble you about the case? Is that why you are refusing?"

Holmes barked a laugh. "No, indeed, the case is tied up with a proverbial bow." He peered at me from beneath the arm that had been crooked over his eyes. "I can hear you thinking. No, I have no particular objection to the woman, either, beyond the general deficiencies of her sex."

"Then what is it?"

He cast a glance at the fabric in my hand and grimaced. "The trouble, my dear Watson, is the color."

"You hadn't even seen the color until just now."

"It is their specialty color, one so renowned the formula was thought to be worth stealing. What other color could it have been?"

I looked down at the rich silk once more. "You mean to tell me you dislike orange?"

"I have an aversion to certain shades."

I was bewildered by this revelation. "But you spent days at their warehouse and in the company of things in this color and said nothing."

Holmes visibly shuddered. "It was not possible to extricate myself without raising questions I could not answer. Far simpler to do what I was hired to do in an expedient fashion."

"Why this color?"

"I cannot explain the inexplicable. It is infuriatingly beyond the grasp of logic."

By his tone, I knew it vexed him greatly and resolved not to speak of it again. "I'll take care of this, then," I said, slipping back out the sitting room door. Surely Mrs. Hudson knew someone who would appreciate an orange cravat.


End file.
